Eco-Friendly Apparel Maker 'Amour Vert' Sprouts Marina Outpost

After selling eco-friendly womenswear, shoes, jewelry and gifts from a cozy storefront in Hayes Valley since 2015, Amour Vert has opened a second location at 2110 Chestnut Street in the Marina district.

"As we grew, we faced some challenges with the small space, and that was our biggest reason for opening the Chestnut store," said marketing coordinator Miranda Roehrick via email.

Linda Balti, now the company's creative director, founded the brand in 2011.

"Hayes was our first store, and it’s also our littlest store," Roehrick said. "Hayes Valley is such a tight-knit community, we have been able to maintain lasting relationships with a lot of our customers who shop this store."

Since moving into the former location of children's clothing store Giggle last August, Roehrick said the company is now attracting customers from Marin and the North Bay.

Amour Vert—French for "green love"—was founded to promote sustainable practices in the apparel industry. The company's products are made using non-toxic dyes, sustainable fabrics and a zero-waste philosophy.

"A lot of the women who shop in the Marina have stopped in our shop and found that it fits their wardrobe, and have been drawn to our sustainability model," Roehrick said.

Amour Vert uses fabrics like Merino wool sourced from Woolmark-approved stations in Australia, organic cotton, wood-derived Tencel, and cupro, which is made from the fibers that surround cotton seeds.

"We design our stores to bring bits of nature indoors in a very minimalistic way, through plants and overall design," Roehrick said, noting that Amour Vert has its own stylist in-house.

The company currently also has stores in Palo Alto, Berkeley and Santa Monica and with every purchase of a T-shirt, Amour Vert plants a tree in North America together with its sustainability partner, American Forests.

Amour Vert has locations at 437 Hayes St. (and Gough) in Hayes Valley and at 2110 Chestnut St. (and Steiner) in the Marina.